Musings of the Wounded
by Jetnis
Summary: Sam was running on pure adrenaline by the time a stranger in a light runner came and saved him. Now, riding shotgun, he has too much time to think.


It's while he's riding shotgun with a stranger who has just saved his life, that Sam is hit with both the direness of his current situation and an overwhelming exhaustion riddled with the painful echoes of the last…well… however long it's been since he hit the 'yes' key and was transported into the grid. He's still riding out the last of the adrenalin from the light cycle fight but it's starting to fade, leaving him with a strange light-headed feeling that's making it hard to process what's going on. He's been watching the landscape, a strange barren land that looks almost like the desert back home. It if it weren't for the absence of stars and the neon glow that seems to radiate from _everything_ here, he could pretend he was somewhere in West Cali; off on a crazy adventure and hell bent on proving to everyone that he can take care of himself.

Quorra taking a particularly sharp turn slams him to the left and into the middle console before pushing him back into his seat. A sharp pain radiates from his side and he holds his breath and counts to twenty in his head before it starts to fade into a dull sort of throbbing that is easier to ignore at the moment. Quorra keeps sneaking glances at him which is making him nervous for two reasons; first, she keeps staring at him like he's some sort of zoo exhibit that was brought here solely for her pleasure and two, she keeps taking her eyes off of the increasingly hazardous terrain. He finds himself unconsciously clutching the bottom of his seat and tries to relax his grip. He wishes that he had any idea of where they were going or who they were going to see but all Quorra will say is "patience Sam Flynn". He's beginning to think that she's a broken record.

Fifteen minutes later and the humming of the wheels against the ground is becoming almost hypnotic, and Sam finds himself fighting against the overwhelming exhaustion which has hit him full force now that the adrenalin is gone. He knows he's in rough shape after all of the fighting he's done. Hell, he can still feel the bruises he got from getting caught on that street light after free falling off of his father's tower, although they are barely noticeable now under the rest of the bruises and scrapes he's collected since then. He's no doctor but he knows that getting thrown off of a moving light cycle didn't do him any favors, especially after his acrobatics against that insane bastard, Rinzler.

Rinzler. He shudders, thinking about the silent figure in his ominous suit and helmet. Everyone he has seen so far is almost blinding with the amount of glowing circuitry they are sporting, including Sam himself. Rinzler is the only person who can blend into the shadows in this overly-bright world and in Sam's eyes that makes him the most dangerous person around. Well, the second most dangerous person. His thoughts slide back to Clu, the bastard with his father's face and his stomach clenches as he replays their encounter in his head. When Clu's helmet slid off for the first time, Sam had been positively overjoyed to see his father, face to face for the first time in twenty years. It didn't matter that he hadn't aged a day or that he didn't look as pleased to see his son as he should have. Just to hear his voice was enough…until Sam stopped listening to only the familiar rumbling of his father's voice and started listening to the words he was saying. Confused, Sam had fought to keep from sounding as hurt and terrified as he is as he responded to what Clu was telling him. The confusion had quickly turned to anger as he was dragged out of the room and towards the light grid and as much as he hates to admit it, he has to be grateful for the emotion because it had masked his growing dread. The anger made it a lot easier to try and kill a man that he recognized was a program, but who still had his father's face and voice and mannerisms.

Now however, sitting here in a vehicle that had clearly been designed for everything _but_ comfort, he has too much time to wonder what exactly Clu has done to his father. He knows that his dad was an accomplished rider but so was he and he had crashed and burned in a spectacular fashion and was only alive now because of this strange girl who had appeared out of nowhere. What if his dad didn't have any help? What if he had been chased down by ever narrowing streams of light only to be left to die alone in this strange world he had created? Sam shudders as the possibilities run through his mind and he makes a concentrated effort to think of anything else.

Luckily, Quorra chooses this moment to drive directly at what looks like a mountain and Sam tenses and chokes on words of warning before she flies through a small opening that had been invisible before hand, giggling like a child on an amusement park ride as she does. It does the job of distracting him but now he has no choice but to acknowledge his surroundings once again. The mountain underpass is black as pitch with only the glow of the vehicle to light the way. Sam has to assume that Quorra has driven this way many times before since she is still spending a considerable amount of time staring at him instead of the road. He moves his head towards her and catches her eye, eliciting another bright smile. The movement makes him aware of the herd of buffalo stampeding around his brain and he bites back a groan as he turns and faces the road again. He finds himself reciting the signs of a concussion under his breath and the fact that he doesn't remember consciously thinking about them first is slightly unnerving. So unnerving that he misses the subtle brightening of the tunnel ahead until they are passing under an archway that is clearly not part of the natural rock.

They are driving through a tunnel of metal and light at a speed that makes Sam feel sick to his stomach and he's just on the edge of pleading with this strange girl to slow down when she squeals to a stop inside a massive cave. The car starts spinning and Sam closes his eyes, convinced that this is it, he's going to lose it and throw up all over himself and wouldn't it just serve her right for driving like a maniac in the first place even if she did it to save his life. A loud hissing noise forces him to open his eyes just in time to see the car grind to a halt as the Lamborghini doors slid upwards. They both sit still for a minute, Sam just breathing and Quorra watching him. After a minute, she hops out of the car and Sam feels compelled to do the same. He tries to look confident and alert as he starts to rise but as it becomes clear that his body is not going to cooperate with him, he changes his goal to getting out without needing assistance. He has to lean forward to avoid hitting his head on the door and as he stands up straight, he feels all of the blood drain from his face and he has to throw out a hand to maintain his balance. Quorra is coming towards him, her shining smile replaced with concern as she asks him quietly if he is alright. He gives her a tight grin, and pretends to take in his surroundings as he waits for everything in his body to settle down enough that he won't face plant when he tries to move. After a minute, he nods and Quorra turns and starts walking towards the back wall and he starts to follow, using sheer will power and stubbornness to move like he's not about to go down at any second.

They stop on a platform that starts to rise immediately and Sam curses under his breath, hating how everything in this world moves without warning, hating how the longer he is here, the more he just wants to be back in his bedroom, listening to his dad talk about Tron and miracles and the grid and how one day they will be there together. The platform comes to a gentle halt, and Quorra turns and puts an arm out, telling him to stay where he is. Sam is completely fine with this since he's pretty sure that he couldn't move even if he wanted too and he spreads his legs a little to try and get a bit more balance while he waits.

Quorra is on the other end of the gigantic room, talking quietly to a man who appears to be meditating but Sam is only half paying attention because the room is nice and dark and it's soothing after all of the flashing lights and he thinks that if he can just close his eyes for a few minutes, maybe his head will stop pounding and he can get himself back under control and figure out what his next move is. He's just about nodding off on his feet when there is movement on the other side of the room and all of a sudden, the entire floor is lit up and Sam is jerked back into full consciousness and immediate exasperation that even here, in this soothing place, everything has to be brighter than the sun. He looks across the room as the man turns around and suddenly, the world fades away as he finds himself staring into the eyes of his father. His real father.

All of his aches fade away, all of the anger and hurt and abandonment he has been trying so hard to ignore for so many years. He can feel his eyes tearing up and he doesn't care even though there is a stranger in the room because his dad is here, after all these years, he's _here_, standing right in front of him and he's not going anywhere and he's never been this happy in his entire life. It's his dad's voice that does him in, the same as Clu, only full of warmth and surprise and love and all the right things that he should have noticed were missing before. The tears are falling now and he feels glued to the floor but it's okay because one minute his dad is across the room and the next he has Sam wrapped in the biggest hug ever and it's here, standing on a lift in the middle of a world of programs and metal and lights that he finally feels like he's come home.


End file.
